Every person encounters Niagara Falls in an individual way.
Visitors bring their expectations and dreams.
People who grow up next to the great waterfalls learn to live in the constant company of Nature’s drama and fury. We have a unique sense, I think, of the surging life of the planet, and our place in it. We often feel very small indeed.
What does Niagara mean to you? Do you feel it in your heart? Or is it just a picturesque backdrop to your selfies?
The purpose of this blog is to engage in thoughtful reflections of Niagara Falls – personal experiences, history, depictions in art, literature and cinema. I’ll also explore Niagara’s present, and what its future could be.
Just as every person has his or her own experience of Niagara Falls, every century has its own version of Niagara Falls. Now – the beginning of the 21st century, with a flurry of hopeful new activities around our beloved waterfalls – is a good time to begin the discussion; I hope you will leave your comments and thoughts below.
Let’s begin with a look back.
Europeans first began to hear about Niagara Falls after 1683, when Father Louis Hennepin, a Catholic French missionary, wrote the first eyewitness description of it. Hennepin was so awestruck by the amazing waterfall that he estimated it to be more than 600 feet tall. “… the Universe does not afford its Parallel,” he wrote. Years later, in 1698, he published a second edition of his report in London, with a fanciful drawing that became the iconic image of Niagara Falls for more than a hundred years.
Thus Niagara Falls became the enigmatic icon of the New World, an indescribable wonder in a still-unexplored land. Only intrepid travelers visited Niagara during most of the seventeen-hundreds, since it was still on the edge of the western frontier. The French and British fought over the territory, while the Native Americans were trying to hold on to their lands. The Niagara frontier was not a peaceful place until after the War of 1812.
The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 moved “civilization” westward, and once the railroad from the east coast to Niagara was completed in 1842 the rush of tourists was on. And so was the rush to harness the power of the rushing river for industry; a large paper mill was built right above the falls, on Bath Island, and the gorge soon became lined with factories spilling their waste down the rocks into the river.
Industry and tourism have always competed for Niagara Falls. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century, it seems that industry always won, as mills and factories lined Niagara’s shores, and canals diverted more and more water as the age of electricity began.
There were always people who fought against Niagara’s exploitation. In the 1860’s an early environmental movement, “Free Niagara,” began. Under pressure, the state of New York purchased private land around the falls and river, and in 1885 created the first state park in the country. It was a sweet, but rare, victory.
Industry at Niagara thrived unabated until the 1970s, when America’s industries began their decline. Not only did the city of Niagara Falls lose jobs and population, it became the global symbol of chemical pollution with the discovery of buried chemicals at Love Canal. Niagara Falls now has half the population it had in 1950.
How did Niagara Falls go from being the natural wonder of the continent to the symbol of the ravages of 20th century industry? And where do we go from here?
What does Niagara Falls symbolize now? Does it still grab our imaginations and instill awe? Or is the majestic flow of water now just a backdrop for thrilling boat rides and high-rise casinos?
Does Niagara Falls have meaning in our digital age? Or is it too primal, too dramatic for most people, as it excites and moves them from digital detachment?
I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, and have had a lifetime to ponder these questions. I hope you will join me in this exploration.